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Help! My Coolant Is Overflowing Out The Overflow Bottle

STA83S

By STA83S,
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cainer33 Explorer

cainer33

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I have 97 r33 series II that is overflowing coolant out the overflow bottle...

Drove home from work turned car off and noticed gurgling coming from engine... water was down a little but not excessively (don't know when the last time I checked it was)... just filled it up and left it...

Then after giving it a bit the next day noticed gurgling again and sizzling (temp guage reading normal inside the car) stopped car and water started overflowing from overflow bottle...

So we replaced the radiator cap (to no avail) then the thermostat (again made no difference) took it to a radiator guy who tested the radiator and head and told me there was nothing wrong with it...

Have read on other posts that these radiators get blocked and it could just need flushing? Just not real sure on where to go from here. Whether we should just start replacing the bigger things ie. radiator, fan clutch, water pump until it's fixed or has someone had this problem before and knows what it is???

It seems now the temp guage is now going up slightly when driving hard but usually no problems when just driving normal (like you can just drive a skyline sedately!)

I'd suggest a head / head gasket. A leak between the cylinder and a water jacket letting combustion gasses into the water system. Probably not what you wanted to hear though. It is a closed system, there shouldn't be any air in there at all.

You could try the bleeding procedure to make sure there isn't any air in there and if it comes back again, you need to think why.

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STA83S Rookie

STA83S

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I have 97 r33 series II that is overflowing coolant out the overflow bottle...

Drove home from work turned car off and noticed gurgling coming from engine... water was down a little but not excessively (don't know when the last time I checked it was)... just filled it up and left it...

Then after giving it a bit the next day noticed gurgling again and sizzling (temp guage reading normal inside the car) stopped car and water started overflowing from overflow bottle...

So we replaced the radiator cap (to no avail) then the thermostat (again made no difference) took it to a radiator guy who tested the radiator and head and told me there was nothing wrong with it...

Have read on other posts that these radiators get blocked and it could just need flushing? Just not real sure on where to go from here. Whether we should just start replacing the bigger things ie. radiator, fan clutch, water pump until it's fixed or has someone had this problem before and knows what it is???

It seems now the temp guage is now going up slightly when driving hard but usually no problems when just driving normal (like you can just drive a skyline sedately!)

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GTR-N1 Grand Master

GTR-N1

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Does the oil on your dipstick look milky?

Is the water in your over flow bottle feel oily?

If so, the head needs attention pronto.

Does the water in the overflow bottle look rusty, gluggy, brown rather than green?

Same with the radiator?

If so, some former owner may have used an additive to plug a leak (which creates solid residue/slag) OR...

there may be signs of corrosion. This can cause the temperature to rise a bit more whilst moving OR/AND...

thermostat can get stuck.

Has the Jap water that came with the car ever been flushed out?

If not, it needs to be replaced. All grey imports from Japan need to have this done; otherwise radiators, heater cores etc are at risk.

Does the temperature only tend to rise whilst standing in traffic and go down again when you move off?

If so, it's the fan clutch.

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STA83S Rookie

STA83S

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No water in the oil, no steam coming out of exhaust, not losing water (until it is pissing out of the overflow bottle) water in overflow and radiator is green and not gluggy (all seems very normal).

Original thermostat did not seem to have any score marks suggesting that it was not getting stuck or sticky - seemed to be in working order.

We changed all coolant/oil/filters when we imported it back in 03 and have never had any problems with it since - but it has never been taken out and flushed properly.

Temp only goes up after a bit of a flogging (it is an auto so this doesn't take much). Then once you stop it boils out the overflow bottle. Whilst driving with temp up you can hear gurgling noise coming from the engine from inside the car.

Everyone I have spoken to is totally stumped!

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STA83S Rookie

STA83S

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The water should in the overflow bottle should be pulled back into the radiator as everything cools down. Is that happening?

Yeah radiator is sucking water back once cool but the problem is that it is building so much pressure when hot that its boiling out of the overflow bottle...

Its in at the radiator guys today who said the thing is full of crap and sludge and needs to be taken out and cleaned properly so I am hoping this will solve the problem - if not well I guess this should be done anyway... cost to do that is $220.00 as apposed to a head gasket!

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REDGTT Grand Master

REDGTT

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try saving money for your GASKET HEAD mate, (100 % sure).. same as mine before..

Coolant overflow from bottle is usually from two things. Dodgy Rad cap not releasing pressure properly or a blown head gasket.

I say the second one since you have already done the first fix

Sorry I know its not what you wanted to hear.

if you are in Sydney. Then PM me and I can get you a good price on head gasket repair.

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wins_wbe Enthusiast

wins_wbe

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Yeah radiator is sucking water back once cool but the problem is that it is building so much pressure when hot that its boiling out of the overflow bottle...

Its in at the radiator guys today who said the thing is full of crap and sludge and needs to be taken out and cleaned properly so I am hoping this will solve the problem - if not well I guess this should be done anyway... cost to do that is $220.00 as apposed to a head gasket!

Just let us know if that solve your problem mate..

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STA83S Rookie

STA83S

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Took radiator out and gave to radiato guy to be opened up and cleaned out.

When I went back to pick it up he told me that it was so chock a block full of crap that one of the tanks had ballooned and he could not get the rod into it to clean it out. He said there is no doubt that this was causing the problem and that I would need to buy a new radiator.

So I've ordered one on ebay and am waiting for it to arrive...

I'll keep ya'll posted on what the outcome is...

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GTR-N1 Grand Master

GTR-N1

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Took radiator out and gave to radiato guy to be opened up and cleaned out.

When I went back to pick it up he told me that it was so chock a block full of crap that one of the tanks had ballooned and he could not get the rod into it to clean it out. He said there is no doubt that this was causing the problem and that I would need to buy a new radiator.

So I've ordered one on ebay and am waiting for it to arrive...

I'll keep ya'll posted on what the outcome is...

Yes I wondered about "Radiator Leak Additives" etc.

Good on EBay for ya.

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STA83S Rookie

STA83S

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So just to keep you all updated...

Radiator guy says radiator is so chock full of crap that it was not working about 90% clogged... so bought radiator from ebay for $280.00 for dual core aluminium (was quoted from a friend at a local car parts distributor $440.00 for standard non genuine). Put it in went for a quick drive and it heating up almost instantly! I blew up as you can imagine!

Spoke to a couple of people and read a few blogs on here and decided to take thermostat out (just a hunch) and went for another drive this time for about an hour with a fair amount of flogging and temp did not go above 1/2 where it normally sits.

Bought another new thermostat (this time a genuine one from Nissan for $70) and so far everything seems to be working and not gurgling and not overheating...

So my advise to anyone else is DONT BUY AFTERMARKET THERMOSTATS!!!

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Wacky Dee Veteran

Wacky Dee

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kudos motorsports has the genuine nissan thermostats on their web site for < $50 ..in fact I'm waiting on the delivery on mine (friggin auspost, was supposed to be here this morning) so I don't see much point in getting an 'aftermarket' one.

Did you use the gasket maker goo when you replaced the thermostat too? Kudos has that crap as well ..only $10 :blush:

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